Getting by with less than your best stuff

“The worse you’re performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is playing badly well. All the true greats have been masters at it.”
– Jack Nicklaus

One of the things that separates great athletes from average ones is their ability to find a way to get by when they are not at their best.

Major League pitchers will tell you that there are many games over the course of a season where they don’t have their best stuff. Their fastball doesn’t have the same life, or their breaking ball isn’t as sharp, or maybe none of their pitches are at their usual level.
The best of them find ways to still get through a game even if it isn’t always pretty. Sometimes they need a little more help than usual from their relief pitchers.

And so it is with the rest of us.

There are going to be those days where mentally you’re just not feeling it. Or maybe physically you’re drained. Either way you don’t have your “best stuff” working for you.

That’s OK. That’s normal. There’s no need to beat yourself up about it, because that will just make your day harder.
Simply do the best you can to manage that day. Put an extra emphasis taking things one step at a time. Go a little slower. Ask for some help if you need it. Welcome the challenge of finding a way through it.
Win Your Day!

Contact MLB.com writer Steve Gilbert at winyourday@gmail.com to sign up for his daily inspirational emails.